Review Summary

The Paris of Christophe Honoré’s “Love Songs” (“Les Chansons d’Amour”) belongs unmistakably to the present. Its residents talk on cellphones and drop the name of Nicolas Sarkozy (still an aspirant to the Élysée Palace rather than an occupant when the movie was being shot). But they also dwell, just as noticeably, in the Paris of classic French movies — in a vague, bracing atmosphere of good old Nouvelle Vague. The opening titles present the surnames of the actors in unadorned block capitals, à la mid-’60s Jean-Luc Godard, while the camera poetically prowls the streets of the city. And, among other sly quotations, an early shot of a couple reading in bed evokes a memorable, much-reproduced image from François Truffaut’s “Bed and Board.” Except that, in this case, the couple is a threesome. The songs, written by Alex Beaupain, belong to a strain of contemplative, literate French pop that is, for music fans not from France, something of an acquired taste. The melodies are charming, though. And so, for the most part, is “Love Songs,” even if it doesn’t entirely work.
— A. O. Scott